Type species: Flavocetraria cucullata (Bellardi) Kärnefelt & A. Thell
Description: A crustose lichen genus with many species.
Thallus fruticose, erect. Lobes once or twice dichotomously branched, ?at to subtubular. Upper surface more or less pale yellow, usually smooth and glossy; lower surface pale yellow; basal parts of the thallus generally duller, often reddish or brownish; pseudocyphellae as white spots on the lower surface; soredia absent or rare, marginal; isidia absent. Cortical layers thin. Medulla lax. Ascomata apothecia, zeorine, submarginal, at lobe ends, to 8 mm diam.; disc brown. Asci slenderly clavate, 8-spored. Spores ellipsoid, 5-10 x 3- 5.5 μm. Conidiomata pycnidia, black, marginal, protruding or on short projections. Conidia dumbbell-shaped, 6 x 1 μm.
Photobiont: Photobiont trebouxioid.
Chemistry: Usnic acid, lichesterinic acid complex and anthraquinones.